Non-equal length open-identification container

ABSTRACT

A non-equal length open-identification container includes: a cover, one side of a top surface thereof extended with an elastic sheet having a predetermined extension length, and an end thereof having a first coupling element facing down; a box, one side of a top surface thereof horizontally extended with a flange having a notch, the flange projected with a stopping portion, and the cover adapted to be in combination with a top portion of the box, allowing a bottom surface of the sheet to be in contact with a top surface of the stopping portion; and a second coupling element, having a groove and in combination with the notch with a dotted broken line, the first coupling element offset from the groove after the cover is in combination with the box, the sheet pressed down, allowing the first coupling element to be in engagement with the groove.

(a) TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a container, and more particularly to a container which is not easy to recover after opening and can be visually recognized whether it is opened.

(b) DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

In supermarkets, various plastic containers, such as boxes, cups or bowls, that are formed by vacuum molding are very suitable for holding food to keep it fresh; such kinds of products usually are transparent materials, making consumers clear at the time of food purchase to avoid after-sales disputes. But nevertheless, many consumers still further want to make sure whether the food in a container is fresh and complete so that they open the plastic container to check, and they do not recover the product back to it's original shape, resulting in the freshness loss of the food in the plastic container and causing the plastic container to be damaged to affect the container appearance. Moreover, if no one find out early that the package box has been opened, the food in the box is easy to be spoiled, which causes food waste and increases the cost burden on businesses.

In addition, the current conventional plastic containers are also gradually designed to have an easy open-identification structure for each of them; in this structure, the burrs generated by a dotted broken point after the tear are often used to refit the torn-apart parts, causing users not easy to visually identify whether a plastic container is opened or not.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To overcome the above disadvantages, the present invention propose a non-equal length open-identification container, including: a cover, one side of a top surface thereof extended with an elastic sheet having a predetermined extension length, and an end thereof having a first coupling element facing down; a box, one side of a top surface thereof horizontally extended with a flange having a notch, the flange projected with a stopping portion, and the cover adapted to be in combination with a top portion of the box, allowing a bottom surface of the sheet to be in contact with a top surface of the stopping portion; and a second coupling element, having a groove and in combination with the notch with a dotted broken line, the first coupling element offset from the groove after the cover is in combination with the box, the sheet pressed down, allowing the first coupling element to be in engagement with the groove, the sheet recovered due to the elasticity thereof after second coupling element are torn away along the dotted broken line, allowing the second coupling element to be positioned above the notch and the sheet to be pushed outside the notch.

The advantages of the present invention are in that the first coupling element and second coupling element are not easy to be detached from each other after the combination thereof with each other, and the second coupling element is still in combination with the first coupling element when it is torn away. In addition, the second coupling element is positioned above the notch after the sheet is recovered, and the sheet is pushed outside the notch incapable of engagement with the notch so that users can clearly see that the second coupling element has been torn.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cover of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a box of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a second coupling element of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows the second coupling element in combination with a notch according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows a first coupling element offset from a groove according to present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the present invention in a combination state; and

FIG. 7 shows the second coupling element separated from the notch according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a non-equal length open-identification container of the present invention includes a cover 10 and box 20.

The cover 10 is extended from one side of the top surface thereof with an elastic sheet 11 having a predetermined extension length. In a preferred embodiment, the predetermined extension length is 2 mm, but the present invention is not so limited. Furthermore, the end of the sheet 11 has a first coupling election 12 facing down, and the bottom surface of the cover 10 is surrounded with a sealing wall 13.

The box 20 is horizontally extended from one side of the top surface thereof with a flange 21 having a notch 211, where the flange 21 is projected with a stopping portion 22, and the inner wall of the box 20 is configured with a first step portion 23 and second step portion 24.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the present invention is further configured with a second coupling element 30 having a groove 31 and annular platform portion 32, where the groove 31 is positioned inside the platform portion 32 and top narrow bottom wide.

The second coupling portion 30 is in combination with the notch 21 with a dotted broken line A, and a plurality of protrusions 301 are convexly arranged at intervals on the peripheral edge of the second coupling portion 30 opposite to the notch 211 and used to be in combination with the notch 211. Therefore, the protrusions 301 is combined with the notch 211 to form the dotted broken line A, thereby facilitating tearing away the second coupling element 30.

Referring to FIG. 5, the bottom surface of the sealing wall 13 is in contact with the first step portion 23 when the cover 10 is in combination with the box 20, where the top surface of the sealing wall 13 is flush with the second step portion 24. Referring to FIG. 6, the bottom surface of the sheet 11 is in contact with the top surface of the stopping portion 22 at the same time; the second coupling element 30 is positioned below the sheet 11 after the cover 10 is in combination with the box 20, and the first coupling element 12 is offset from the groove 31. Since the sheet 11 is elastic, the sheet 11 still can be pressed down, allowing the first coupling element 12 to change the direction to correspond to the groove 31, and the first coupling element 12 is in engagement with the groove 31. When the first coupling element 12 is in combination the groove 31, the top surface of the platform portion 32 is in contact with the bottom surface of the sheet 11.

Referring to FIG. 7, the second coupling element 30 still can be in combination with the first coupling element 12 after the second coupling element 30 is torn away along the dotted broken line A. The sheet 11 can be recovered due to its elasticity, allowing the second coupling element 30 to be positioned above the notch 211 to form a difference in level and allowing it not to be in engagement with the notch 211 so that users can clearly see that the second coupling portion 30 has been torn. 

1. A non-equal length open-identification container, comprising: a cover, one side of a top surface thereof extended with an elastic sheet having a predetermined extension length, and an end thereof having a first coupling element facing down; a box, one side of a top surface thereof horizontally extended with a flange having a notch, said flange projected with a stopping portion, and said cover adapted to be in combination with a top portion of said box, allowing a bottom surface of said sheet to be in contact with a top surface of said stopping portion; and a second coupling element, having a groove and in combination with said notch with a dotted broken line, said first coupling element offset from said groove after said cover is in combination with said box, said sheet pressed down, allowing said first coupling element to be in engagement with said groove, said sheet recovered due to the elasticity thereof after second coupling element are torn away along said dotted broken line, allowing said second coupling element to be positioned above said notch and said sheet to be pushed outside said notch, wherein the elastic sheet is elastically deformable from a first state to a second state to move said first coupling element in the horizontal direction, such that said coupling element that is offset from the groove of said second coupling element in the first state is brought into alignment with the groove of said second coupling element to be further set into engagement with said groove.
 2. The container according to claim 1, wherein said second coupling element is configured with an annular platform portion, said groove is positioned inside said platform portion, and a top surface of said platform portion is in contact with a bottom surface of said sheet.
 3. The container according to claim 1, wherein said groove is top narrow bottom wide, allowing said first coupling element to be in tight fit with said groove.
 4. The container according to claim 2, wherein said groove is top narrow bottom wide, allowing said first coupling element to be in tight fit with said groove.
 5. The container according to claim 1, wherein a bottom surface of said cover is surrounded with a sealing wall, an inner wall of said box is configured with a first step portion and second step portion, and a bottom surface of said sealing wall is in contact with said first step portion and a top surface of said sealing wall is flush with said second step portion after said cover is in combination with said box. 